Newcastle United take on Aston Villa in their opening fixture of the new Premier League season on Saturday and here’s how the two clubs’ transfer windows compare.
In some ways, it feels like just yesterday when Newcastle United were basking in the glow of securing Champions League football but, in others, it feels like light years ago.
All the optimism and celebration on that day in May has long since been frittered away, with pretty much everything going wrong for Newcastle since.
Eddie Howe has watched in despair as several of his top targets have gone elsewhere and Alexander Isak wants to do the same thing.
Isak is refusing to play for Newcastle in his attempts to force through a move to Liverpool, so the Magpies will be without their star striker for the trip to Villa Park.
Newcastle get their season underway against Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon and they haven’t had the best of summers themselves.
Here’s how the two clubs’ spending compares.
- Every player linked with Newcastle in summer transfer window: Latest news and prices on Eddie Howe’s targets
Newcastle United transfer window compared to Aston Villa
Both Newcastle and Villa have signed five new players this summer, though two of the Toon’s additions are youngsters who are unlikely to feature much in the season.
The full list and spend reads:
| Newcastle United | Aston Villa |
| Anthony Elanga – £55m (rising to £60m) | Yasin Ozcan – £6.6m |
| Malick Thiaw – £30m (rising to £34.4m) | Zepiqueno Redmond – Free |
| Aaron Ramsdale – Loan (£4m fee) | Marco Bizot – Undisclosed |
| Park Seung-soo – Minimal | Modou Keba Cisse – £4m |
| Antonio Cordero – Free | Evann Guessand – £28m |
| Total: £89m (rising to £98.4m) | Total: £38.6m |
If any club has had a worse transfer window than Newcastle, it could well be Villa.
It was the Birmingham outfit that missed out on a Champions League place, instead of Newcastle, and the lack of guaranteed income has seemingly cost them.
Villa have spent just £38.6m so far this summer, with recently-arrived striker Evann Guessand their only marquee signing.
They have also lost last season’s on-loan duo of Marco Assensio and Marcus Rashford, though they have managed to keep linked-away stars Ollie Watkins and John McGinn so far.
Instead of being a showcase for brand-new arrivals, Saturday’s game will be a demonstration of how PSR continues to impact clubs that are trying to break into the elite, who, like Chelsea and Manchester United, can seemingly spend at will.
Will Newcastle or Aston Villa sign anyone else before Premier League opener?
If things go Newcastle’s way, they’d have spent even more money before they play Villa.
New centre-back Malick Thiaw arrived from AC Milan on Tuesday to give Howe his long-awaited defensive reinforcement.
Jacob Ramsey is all but signed from Saturday’s opponents, but hasn’t been recruited in time to make his debut against his soon-to-be former club.
The manager was hoping his attacking options would be enhanced by Saturday, as Newcastle are closing in on signing Yoane Wissa in a £35m deal from Brentford, but it hasn’t been completed yet.
It doesn’t appear as if Villa are on the verge of signing anyone else before the weekend.
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